Continued efforts to reduce compressor weight and cost have led heating and cooling equipment manufactures to replace metal components with lighter mass materials. Often, these changes lead to increase in noise transmission from compressor units. Compressors currently sold to original equipment manufacturers are segregated into several feature categories. Significant feature categories typically considered include cost, temperature performance, aesthetics, recycling aspects and noise abatement performance.
Although single frequency sound cancellation schemes have been proposed in the heating and cooling industry, heretofore, no solution has been found to satisfactorily address the broad spectrum noise cancellation signature of a compressor. As shown in FIG. 1, soft fiber filled bags, which are placed over the compressor, have in the past been provided to reduce noise transmissions from the compressors. Such attempts to meet consumers needs have encountered manufacturing and performance issues. As such, there remains significant room for improvement in low cost noise abatement for compressor systems.
No one has taken the approach of incorporating the noise shielding function into a substantially solid plastic shell, which completely encloses a compressor, nor have superior sound transmission loss materials been used in air compressor sound suppression. Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for an air compressor system having a compact, improved noise absorption and attenuation characteristics, which operate collectively to reduce compressor noise economically, in a highly reliable manner.